Abstract

Background

The consumption of foods, especially by children, may be determined by the types of
foods that are available in the home. Because most studies use a single point of data
collection to determine the types of foods in the home, which can miss the change
in availability when resources are not available, the primary objective of this study
was to determine the extent to which the weekly availability of household food items
changed over one month by 1) developing the methodology for the direct observation
of the presence and amount of food items in the home; 2) conducting five in-home household
food inventories over a thirty-day period in a small convenience sample; and 3) determining
the frequency that food items were present in the participating households.

Methods

After the development and pre-testing of the 251-item home observation guide that
used direct observation to determine the presence and amount of food items in the
home (refrigerator, freezer, pantry, elsewhere), two trained researchers recruited
a convenience sample of 9 households (44.4% minority); administered a baseline questionnaire
(personal info, shopping habits, food resources, and food security); and conducted
5 in-home assessments (7-day interval) over a 30-day period. Each in-home assessment
included food-related activities since the last assessment, and an observational survey
of types and amounts of foods present.

Conclusions

The feasibility of conducting multiple in-home assessments was confirmed with 100%
retention of participants through 5 in-home assessments, which paid particular attention
to the intra-monthly changes in household availability in type and amount of foods.
This study contributes to research on home food availability by identifying the importance
of multiple measures, presence of certain foods in the home, and the feasibility of
comprehensive in-home assessments.